CRI听力:Libya Turmoil Deepens as Islamists Name Rival PM

Libya's outgoing parliament has voted to replace the current interim government with one headed by an Islamist-backed candidate.

The move is deepening the stark divisions in the already-conflict-torn country, leaving Libya with two rival parliaments and governments.

Omar Hmeidan is Speaker of the outgoing parliament, the Islamist-dominated General National Congress.

"Mr. Abdullah Altheni is relieved from his task as prime minister and defence minister in the caretaker government and Mr. Omar Suleiman Alhasi has been appointed to form a national salvation government within two weeks from now, and the leading government will legally be sworn in before the Chairman of the General National Congress and before starting their tasks."

The outgoing parliament has met in Tripoli in defiance of the newly elected parliament, which convenes some 16-hundred kilometers away because of the ongoing clashes in Tripoli and Benghazi.

The General National Congress refuses to recognize the authority of the new parliament, which is dominated by non-Islamists.

The division in Libya is rooted in rivalries between Islamists and non-Islamists, as well as powerful tribal and regional divisions among groups who ascended to power following the 2011 fall of Moammar Gadhafi.

In another development, Libya's foreign minister and his counterparts from neighboring states have been meeting in Cairo to discuss a potential Islamist threat.